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Qatar Duty Free And Doha International Airport Named Best In Middle East At Inaugural Aviation Business Awards

Doha, QATAR – Qatar Duty Free and Doha International Airport, subsidiaries of Qatar Airways, have been honoured at the inaugural Aviation Business Awards by being named best duty free operator and best passenger handling airport respectively in the Middle East.

The awards, presented on the sidelines of the Dubai Air Show, acknowledged the performance of different travel industry sectors during the year.

Qatar Duty Free Deputy General Manager Krishna Kumari collected the best duty free operator award, while Doha International Airport’s head of commercial Ahmed Al Mahmoud picked up the accolade on behalf of the airport.

Both Qatar Duty Free and Doha International Airport are operated and managed by Qatar Airways, whose Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker praised the two organisations for their sterling efforts.

“It is indeed a great honour to have such prestigious awards bestowed on Qatar Duty Free and Doha International Airport, which have been determined to be the best of the best in their respective areas of operation,” he said.

“The Aviation Business Awards demonstrate the effort and determination of both Qatar Duty Free and Doha International Airport in making them rise above the competition.”

Qatar Duty Free has been enjoying significant growth year on year, helped by a ramping up of its presence in the departures and arrivals area at Doha International Airport, the airline’s operational hub. This year alone, Qatar Duty Free has grown more than 64 per cent over the previous 12 months.

Doha International Airport, which currently handles more than 10 million passengers a year, has undergone a dramatic change over the past three years, virtually doubling in size to cope with the huge demand for air travel to and from Qatar, which has been spearheaded by the huge infrastructure improvements taking place in the country.

Qatar Airways is one of only five airlines in the world with a Five Star ranking for service and excellence awarded by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency. Skytrax also named Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the fifth year running in 2007 following a survey of more than 12 million passengers. During the 2006/07 financial year, Qatar Airways carried more than 8 million passengers worldwide. For more information, log onto www.qatarairways.com

Doha-based Qatar Airways will have a fleet of 110 aircraft by 2015 – almost double the existing size. Qatar Airways has ordered 80 Airbus A350s, together with 60 Boeing 787s and 32 Boeing 777s, with deliveries of the latter beginning in November 2007. The airline is a launch customer of the twin-deck Airbus A380 ‘super jumbos’ with five aircraft on order and scheduled for delivery from 2010. Qatar Airways moves to the New Doha International Airport in 2009, when the first phase of the new facility opens. For more information, visit www.ndiaproject.com